Les Gold Biography
Leslie Gold is an American pawnbroker, reality TV star, media personality, and author who is best known for his role on cable and satellite television truTV’s reality series, Hardcore Pawn.
Les Gold Age
Gold was born Leslie Gold on June 20, 1950, in Detroit, Michigan, United States.
Les Gold Height
Gold stands at a height of 6 feet 2 inches (1.87 m) tall.
Les Gold Family
Gold is a third-generation pawnbroker/salesman, the grandson of a Jewish pawnbroker who once owned the company “Sam’s Loans”, a now-defunct pawnshop on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, Michigan.
Les Gold Wife
Gold is married to Lili Gold since 1975 and the couple is blessed with two children, a son Seth Gold and a daughter Ashley Broad.
Les Gold Children
Gold has one son and one daughter. His daughter Ashley Gold, holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Michigan State University and earned her graduate diamond certification from the Gemological Institute of America. Additionally, she is co-owner of American Jewelry and has been working there for more than fifteen years, although she took three years off at one point for maternity leave.
Les Gold Seth Gold
Gold’s son Seth, is an alumnus of the University of Michigan and has been a co-owner of American Jewelry since graduating from school. Seth handles the store’s marketing division and he says that if it was not for him, the shop’s only marketing campaign would be “an ad in the Yellow Pages”.
Les Gold Career
Gold began his first business at age 12, buying pizzas and reselling them by the slice to fellow students at Hebrew School.
In 1978, Gold opened his own pawn shop, American Jewelry, and Loan at the Green Eight Shopping Center on 8 Mile Road in Oak Park. After 15 years, Gold moved it to its present location on Greenfield Road in Detroit near 8 Mile a 50,000 square foot building that was formerly a bowling alley. Currently, the business has 3 locations, employs up to 200 people, and serves about 1,000 customers in a day.
Les is the owner of American Jewelry and Loan. He, his family, and his pawn shops are central to the truTV series Hardcore Pawn which is about the day-to-day operations of American Jewelry and Loan. He opened his first American Jewelry at the Green Eight Shopping Center on 8 Mile Road in Oak Park in 1978 and in 1993 he moved to its present location.
Les Gold Book
Gold has written an autobiography, For What It’s Worth: Business Wisdom from a Pawnbroker, which was published on June 1, 2013, by Penguin/Portfolio. The book talks about his personal experience in establishing a successful pawnshop, and gives details on how he did it, and how anyone in any field can “think like a pawnbroker”.
The book ranked #4 on The New York Times Best Seller list in the Advice, How-to, and Miscellaneous category for the week of June 30, 2013, and #8 in the Hardcover Business Books category for the month of July 2013.
On June 18, 2013, Les, the book, and his “three simple steps to successful negotiation” were featured on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Les Gold Net Worth
Gold has an estimated net worth of about $5 million which he has earned through his career as a pawnbroker, reality TV star, media personality, and author.